My Second Life as a Mafia Tyrant

Chapter 22: The investigation stalled

　The state police arrested a low-level dealer on suspicion of theft, but after finding Snow Pearls in his luggage, they changed the charges to possession and trafficking of illegal drugs.

“Who did you buy this from?”

“From a man wearing a black windbreaker…”

“How many people like that do you think there are in the West?! Give me a specific name!”

“I don’t know his name! I don’t know!”

Felix watched the state police detective conduct the interrogation from behind a one-way mirror. Although the state police did not allow the Drug Enforcement Administration to conduct the interrogation directly, they did grant permission for Felix to be present during the questioning.

　Felix is a young investigator, 29 years old this year. He is 180 centimeters tall and well-built, with a physique honed in the Marine Corps. He has brown skin, a sign of his mixed Snow Elf and South Elf heritage, and his slightly unruly black hair is slicked back. Dressed in a business suit that made him unrecognizable at first glance as a Drug Enforcement Administration investigator, he watched the interrogation unfold.

“Why don’t you try offering a plea deal?”

“That’s our job. You’re free to watch, but don’t interfere.”

When Felix said that, the state police detective standing next to him on the other side of the one-way mirror looked displeased.

Felix figured they’d offer a plea deal anyway.

　But he also wondered how much intelligence value this pathetic low-level dealer could possibly have.

“With this much Snow Pearl, you’re looking at 15 years in prison. Prison is hell for a junkie. You’ll go through hell with withdrawal symptoms. And when that happens, no one’s going to help you. Because junkies have no value.”

The low-level dealer fell silent.

　His face shows he’s weighing his own life against the price of betraying others.

“If you make a plea deal, I’ll let you off. What do you say?”

“No way. I’m not snitching on anyone.”

This is true of almost everyone involved in the drug trade: they’re afraid to betray their own. That’s because they fear retaliation.

　The higher up you go in the drug trade, the more violent people tend to become. They have no qualms about killing or using violence. To be honest, making enemies of such people is the act of a fool.

The guys on the “National Union” side who made the deal must have shown some serious violence of their own. The effect of that is reaching all the way down to the street-level dealers.

“If you refuse to cooperate, you’ll spend 15 years in prison. Fifteen years. You’ll grow old, have no money to buy drugs, and just sit there in a daze. If you cooperate now, we’ll reduce your sentence. You might just end up in a rehabilitation facility.”

“No way. I really don’t know anything, and if I rat someone out, retaliation is guaranteed. I’d rather just go to prison as is. They’ll definitely retaliate. Definitely.”

The low-level dealer said that and fell silent.

“Could you at least tell me who you’re afraid of?”

“Leave it to him.”

Felix’s suggestion was ignored once again.

“Have you actually seen anyone get retaliated against?”

“Yeah. You cops probably didn’t even bother investigating, thinking it was just another junkie case, but when a junkie I knew got busted, he blabbed about where he was dealing, and they let him go. But the very next day, they found him in a dumpster. He had signs of torture. He was in terrible shape.”

“We’re looking into that.”

“Have you found anything?”

“I’m not stupid enough to leak investigation details to a junkie.”

The detective said this, continuing to stare at the low-level dealer.

“Is what he said true? What about witness protection?”

“We checked the deal spot he mentioned, but found nothing. Just a junkie’s ramblings.”

“Then why was he killed?”

“He probably stole some drugs.”

Felix felt a headache coming on from the state police’s sloppy investigation.

“Please investigate this properly. There’s a possibility the killer is a key figure in the drug trade. Besides, we should assume they’re in a position to know when a dealer gets arrested. Word has probably already gotten out that this dealer was arrested.”

“Don’t you dare meddle in our work.”

This was pointless. Felix was fed up.

The state police’s approach would only lead to more dealers dying. There was no way they could work their way up from the bottom. If the dealers didn’t talk, how would they ever find out who was at the center of the drug business in the West?

“There’s no one in the State Police who’s been bribed by them, is there?”

“Are you here to pick a fight with us?”

“It would be strange if I weren’t. The dealer was arrested, investigated, and found to have done nothing wrong, yet he’s facing retaliation. Isn’t there someone within the police who leaked information to the outside that the dealer had talked somewhere?”

Felix argued.

“This is ridiculous. We’ve already made a concession just by accepting investigators from the central government, and yet you dare to suspect us of corruption on top of that?”

The detective said this and pointed his thumb at the door, signaling for Felix to leave.

“Conduct an internal audit. You must. Otherwise, I’ll file a complaint myself.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“I thought I’d offered you an option to prevent it from coming to that.”

Felix left the interrogation room after saying that.

Unless he could find a cooperating dealer, he wouldn’t be able to uncover the identity of the person distributing drugs to the dealers. Without a doubt, the opponent was a large-scale organization. And yet, they were as brutal as the “Federation” drug cartels.

But the dealers had been shown what fear looked like.

　Most of the dealers are junkies, but they’re smarter than your average junkie in one respect: gathering intelligence. They’re constantly gathering information on whose territory extends where, where the next deal will take place, and how much protection money they need to pay to keep their bosses happy.

They’ll likely get wind of other dealers being arrested pretty quickly.

But all the dealers know is that someone was arrested. They don’t know what happens after that.

　Even so, the man running the drug business in the West immediately moved the deal location. If this were merely a precautionary measure following a dealer’s arrest, there would be no need to go out of their way to torture and kill the dealer.

There is indeed a mole within the police force.

Felix drops a coin into the public payphone in the most conspicuous spot.

Then, he dials Director Scott at the DEA headquarters.

“Scott? Yeah. It’s a total disaster. The State Police are rotten to the core. There are corrupt cops on the inside, and our information just keeps leaking out. They’re not cooperating with the investigation at all. To be honest, I bet they graduated from the police academy having learned nothing but how to shoot a gun. That’s how bad this bunch of cops is. That’s right. This place is a total dump.”

　Felix continued to berate the State Police in a voice loud enough for the officers around him to hear.

“Special Agent Felix Faust!”

Soon, the detective from earlier arrived.

“What do you think you’re doing!? Did you really come here looking for a fight!?”

“Who’s the one picking a fight here?! There’s no point dealing with a backwater police force full of amateurs like this. You should just leave the investigation to professionals like us!”

“Don’t mess with me! Get out of here right now!”

“I’ll leave even without being told!”

Felix spat those words at the detective and walked out of the police station.